[Mat takes a step back, hands raised and palms open.]

I promise, my lady, I am not looking to have anything done to my ego. I'm well aware of my own strengths and I happen to think I'm fantastic. I'm also a lad from a farming village that can fit into this whole stall area with room to spare. I've left home once, a handful of months ago. I've talked to others, they're folk who've done things.

[It's smart to know where one stands, and he knows where he stands. Certainly compared to those who were brought in with him. If there's anything special about him...well, the one thing he can think of he prays is wrong.]

Sorry, I really didn't mean to offend...I'm only trying to find my way in this world. And yeah, I went to that place the once, friend took me. They said the Singularity's some...thing of power? They used it to bring us here. It's dangerous to the folks here, but not us?

[All of this is beyond Mat's knowledge, so much of it close to what he knows but somehow so vastly different. He regrets he'd tried to ask anything, now, he hadn't meant to upset. It's just so few people have been able to tell him anything, most of who he's talked to having come in with him or only a month or two earlier.]